New York state lawmakers will soon start dissecting Gov. Andrew Cuomo's $145 billion state budget proposal with a series of legislative hearings zeroing in on different parts of the complicated spending blueprint.

The visibility of issues facing the transgender community is at an all time high.

In October, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo enacted an executive order to include gender identity under the definition of sex in the 1945 Human Rights Act which will start providing employment and housing protections to transgender individuals. New York will be the 19th state to provide such protections to the Trans Community.

Experts agree that our nation’s infrastructure is aging into often unsafe conditions. A group including several local elected officials known as the Rebuild New York Now coalition today called on the state legislature and Governor Andrew Cuomo to address the issue in the next budget when the legislature reconvenes in January.

New York state is opening a trade and tourism office in Puerto Rico. Gov. Andrew Cuomo says that the new office will promote "mutually beneficial" tourism opportunities and economic ties. It will also boast a shop selling New York products.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami has generated a forecast track for Hurricane Joaquin that closely follows the path Superstorm Sandy took, raising a New York City strike higher on the list of possibilities. Even if it’s downgraded to a tropical storm, Joaquin may pack the punch of an Irene or Lee. "Preparedness" is the buzzword.

Five months have passed since the taser-related death of Donald "Dontay" Ivy at the hands of Albany Police. Slow-paced investigations by the department and the Albany County District Attorney's office have upset citizens and alarmed activists.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says there's widespread agreement on the need to build a new Hudson River rail tunnel but that the federal government must agree to pay "the lion's share" of the estimated $14 billion price tag.

Recent conversations between Vice President Joe Biden's associates and democratic donors and operatives have led to speculation that Biden will challenge front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton for the party's nomination in 2016. During a visit to New York last week, Biden called New York Governor Andrew Cuomo the best governor in the country. Is that a veiled way of saying he wants Cuomo to be his VP candidate if he runs for the White House? Our political observer Alan Chartock discusses the possibility.

New York state health officials plan to announce this week the companies selected to operate medical marijuana dispensaries. A spokesperson for the state Department of Health says the agency intends to identify the winning applicants for five available dispensary licenses by Friday.

New York is moving to expand a ban on synthetic marijuana to keep with drug makers who create new chemical recipes to evade the existing law. Governor Andrew Cuomo told the state's health department on Friday to broaden the regulations to outlaw new formulas.

In the legislative session that recently ended, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo saw the state legislature reject a number of agenda items he’d been pushing. The governor, perhaps taking a cue from President Obama, has used his executive powers to advance some of the proposals anyway.

A "Memorandum of Understanding" between the Cuomo Administration and New York state Senate Republicans suspending a statewide ammunition registry program has opened a political can of worms, causing a commotion at the Capitol.

One provision of the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, commonly known as the SAFE Act, called for an ammunition database to be rolled out in January 2014. Cost and the difficulty of implementation became obstacles apparently too difficult to sidestep.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made Rochester the state's "capital for a day" Thursday: the Democratic governor took his top advisers westward for a day of meetings with local officials, business owners and residents.